Device for spreading granular or powdery material



1965 c. VAN DER LELY ETAL 3,203,703

DEVICE FOR SPREADING GRANULAR OR POWDERY MATERIAL Original Filed Jan.26, 1959 INVENTOR. COR/v51. 1s fin/ v VAN DEA [ELY United States Patent3,203,703 DEVICE FOR SPREADING GRANULAR QR POWDERY MATERIAL Cornelis vander Lely, Zug, Switzerland, and Ary van der Lely, Maasland, Netherlands,assignors to C. van der Lely N.V., Maasland, Netherlands, a Dutchlimitedliability company Original application Jan. 26, 1959, Ser. No.788,884, now Patent No. 3,038,643, dated June 12, 1963. Divided and thisapplication May 31, 1962, Ser. No. 199,020 6 Claims. (Cl. 27515) Theinvention relates to a device for spreading granular of powderymaterial, comprising a material container from which the material to bespread is delivered, in which container an agitating member is arrangedserving to ensure a proper delivery of the material from the container,and this application is a divisional application of Serial No. 788,884,now Patent No. 3,038,643.

In accordance with the invention there is provided a device of the kindset forth, wherein the agitating member is provided with arms extendingdownwardly in the container and being driven for movement relative tothe container walls during operation by a mechanism rotatable about anaxis of rotation, said agitating member being mounted to the upper endof a shaft and being provided with portions extending sidewardly, towhich portions the upper ends of the arms extending downwardly aremounted, said sidewardly extending portions being provided with means tobe coupled with the said shaft.

By employing an agitating member with downwardly extending arms, inparticular the material in the lower part of the container can be keptloose in an effective way to be delivered from the container.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same canbe carried into effect, reference will now be made to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the container with an agitating member ofa device for spreading granular or powdery material.

FIG. 2 is, on an enlarged scale, a sectional view of a detail of thedevice.

The device in accordance with the embodiment has a container 1comprising a pyramid-shaped portion 2 and a cylindrical portion 3.Underneath the container 1 is arranged a moving mechanism shaped in theform of a disc 4 which constitutes the bottom of the container. Betweenthe disc 4 and the cylindrical portion 3 of the container 1 is provideda cylindrical annulus 5, which constitutes the link between thecontainer 1 and the disc 4. The annulus 5 bears on the disc 4 and fitsat its top end around the cylindrical portion 3 of the container. Thedisc 4 which is caused to rotate during operation, extends beyond thecontainer, where it is provided with spreading members 6 which extendbeyond the disc 4 so that the device may be used as a distributingmachine. For the delivery of the material from the container, theannulus 5 has various outlet ports 7. In order to ensure a properdelivery of the material from the container, an agitating member 3 isarranged therein.

The agitating member 8 is coupled with the disc 4 by means of the lowerend of a shaft 15, the disc being rotatable about the axis 9. Forcoupling the agitating member 8 to the disc 4, the latter has a shaft 10the centre line of which coincides with the axis 9. The shaft 10 isprovided with a sleeve 11, which is secured against displacement on theshaft 10 by means of a pin 12. The sleeve 11 is provided at its upperend with a strip 13 with a hole 14, which is located at a distance fromthe rotary shaft 9 of the mechanism 4. Through the hole 14 is taken thelower end of the shaft 15, which is secured against removal from thehole 14 by means of a plate 16, which ice 2 is welded to the shaft 15,and by means of a ring 17, which is held on the shaft 15 by means of asplit pin 18. The shaft 15, which extends upwardly, is provided at itstop end with a round plate 19. To the plate 19, which extendshorizontally on the central position shown of the shaft 15, side arms 20are welded which over a first portion 21 extend upwardly in thecontainer. The plate 19 is provided with six arms 20 which are formedpairwise from one piece of resilient material, the ends which are notconnected to each other being welded to the plate 19. Each side arm 20is welded to the plate 19 only at its higher end. From the plate 19 afirst portion 21 of the side arm, this portion being at an angle to thevertical shaft 15, goes over through a bend 22 into a second portion 23,which points downwardly from the bend and extends along the wall of thecontainer. The portions 23 extending along the container Wall arelocated, in this case, in an imaginable cone surface. In the centralposition shown of the shaft 15, the portions 23 forming downwardlyextending arms are parallel to the container wall.

Only four of these side arms 20 are shown, two being omitted; the holes24 and 25, intended for these two arms, are shown in the plate 19; theends of the omitted side arms can be arranged therein.

The portions 23 of two adjacent side arms 20 formed pairwise from onepiece of material, which portions are extending freely downwardly, arecoupled with each other by a portion 26 lying substantially horizontal.The downwardly extending portions 23 have a height which is nearly halfthe height 28 of the agitating member with the shaft 15, and which issubstantially equal to the height of the shaft 15. When the disc 4rotates about the rotary shaft 9, the lower end of the shaft 15, thecentre line 29 of which lies at a distance from the axis 9, will rotateabout the axis 9. Owing to this the agitating member constituted by theside arms 20 and the rod 15 arranged centrally in the said member willmove in the material in the container 1.

The side arms are capable of giving way readily in a resilient mannerowing to the resilience of the material from which they are made. Theresistance experienced by the side arms 20 in the material is, however,usually so heavy that the shaft 15 will always rotate in the hole 14,whereby, since the top end of the shaft 15 cannot always follow themovements of the lower end of the shaft 15, the side arms willcontinually perform a swinging motion.

During this movement the agitating member 8 with the side arms 20 willrotate about an axis constituted by the centre line 29 of the shaft 15,whereby owing to the fact that the lower end of the shaft 15 bears inthe hole 14, the agitating member moves about pivot axes extendingperpendicular to the centre line of the hole 14 and extending in a planeperpendicular to the axis 9.

The central portion of the agitating member to which the arms aremounted, i.e. the disc 19, can also have another form. The agitatingmember 8 with the freely downwardly extending arms 23 can also becoupled with a driving mechanism in another way then according to thisembodiment to be moved relative to the container.

What we claim is:

1. A device for spreading material comprising a material container, saidcontainer decreasing in width towards its lower end, an agitatorarranged within said container, said agitator having a shaft anddownwardly extending arms, the upper ends of said arms being providedwith laterally extending portions, means for connecting said portions tothe upper end of said shaft, a rotating and driving mechanism pivotallyconnected to the lower end of said shaft for moving said agitator duringoperation, said laterally extending portions constituting arms made of asingle piece of material, with said arms extending downwardly wherebysaid portions extend laterally and upwardly in the container from saidshaft and lie With their outer ends near the container wall.

2. A device for spreading material comprising a material container, saidcontainer decreasing in width towards its lower end, an agitatorarranged within said container, said agitator having a shaft anddownwardly extending arms, the upper ends of said arms being providedwith laterally extending portions, means for connecting said portions tothe upper end of said shaft, a rotating and driving mechanism pivotallyconnected to the lower end of said shaft for moving said agitator duringoperation, two of said arms being coupled to each other with their lowerends.

3. A device for spreading material comprising a material container, saidcontainer decreasing in width towards its lower end, an agitatorarranged within said container, said agitator having a shaft anddownwardly extending arms, the upper ends of said arms being providedwith laterally extending portions, means for connecting said portions tothe upper end of said shaft, a rotating and driving mechanism pivotallyconnected to the lower end of said shaft for moving said agitator duringoperation, said downwardly extending arms being located substantially inthe same conical surface.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the said arms are rotatablearound the center line of the agitator.

5. A device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the said mechanism has a discrotatable about its axis of rotation said disc constituting at leastpartly the bottom of the container.

6. A device for spreading material comprising a material container, saidcontainer decreasing in width towards its lower end, an agitatorarranged within said container, said agitator having a shaft anddownwardly extending arms, the upper ends of said arms being providedwith laterally extending portions, means for connecting said portions tothe upper end of said shaft, a rotating and driving mechanism pivotallyconnected to the lower end of said shaft for moving said agitator duringoperation, said arms extending Within a vertical plane in the containerover a distance which is at least equal to half the height of thecontainer and substantially equal to the height of said shaft.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 232,328 9/80Brown 259-135 280,437 7/83 Armstrong 275l5 969,359 9/10 Goodrich 259-134X 1,200,250 10/16 Sinding-Larsen 259135 1,831,040 11/31 Sowers 259-1351,948,021 2/34 Burton 222404 X 2,368,127 1/45 Fasick 222232 2,369,5082/45 White 222-228 X 2,644,618 7/53 Oehler 222-228 X 3,038,643 6/62 VanDer Lely et al. 222228 X FOREIGN PATENTS 238,799 1/ 61 Australia.

1,004,95 1 4/52 France.

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Primaly Examiner.

RAPHAEL M. LUPO, Examiner.

3. A DEVICE FOR SPREADING MATERIAL COMPRISNG A MATERIAL CONTAINER, SAIDCONTAINER DECREASING IN WIDTH TOWARDS ITS LOWER END, AN AGITATORARRANGED WITHIN SAID CONTAINER, SAID AGITATOR HAVING A SHAFT ANDDOWNWARDLY EXTENDING ARMS, THE UPPER ENDS OF SAID ARMS BEING PROVIDEDWITH LATERALLY EXTENDING PORTRIONS, MEANS FOR CONNECTING SAID PORTIONSTO THE UPPER END OF SAID SHAFT, A ROTATING AND DRIVNG MECHANISMPIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO THE LOWER END OF SAID SHAFT FOR MOVING SAIDAGITATOR DURING OPERATION, SAID DOWNWARDLY EXTENDING ARMS BEING LOCATEDSUBSTANTIALLY IN THE SAME CONICAL SURFACE.